Kampala Crime Watch: Mali national arrested with Shs1.7b cocaine, three children rescued from kidnappers, Man convicted of human sacrifice

Kampala Metropolitan police on Friday arrested a man in Namasuba, a Kampala suburb on Entebbe road, who was suspected to be part of a drug cartel that smuggles drugs in and out of the country.

The suspect identified as Idrissa Traore, a Mali national, was found with cocaine weighing 7kgs, valued at about Shs1.7 billion.

The arrest came after the Director of Criminal Investigations in Burundi tipped Uganda police that they had arrested a one Musa Fofona at Bujumbura Airport trying to smuggle cocaine, who later revealed that it belonged to Traore.

Police said they later discovered that Traore has lived in Uganda for 20 years and has been in the process of applying for a Ugandan Passport.

There are increasing cases of drug trafficking in the country. Recently, a one Beatrice Isaro, a Rwanda national, was also arrested at Entebbe airport trying to smuggle Cocaine worth Shs397 million. In October 2017, Allen Nankanja was arrested trying to smuggle cocaine worth Shs875 million from Brazil into the country.

Meanwhile, early this week, police rescued three children suspected to have been kidnapped on Mityana Road. According to police, the alleged kidnapper, on realizing police had mounted a snap check point ahead, threw the children out of the vehicle and sped off.

In Kayunga District, a 24-year-old man was on Friday convicted of human sacrifice after he pleaded guilty.

Godfrey Kizza, a witch doctor and resident of Kitimbwa village in Wabwoko Sub-county, while appearing before the Mukono High Court presided over by Margaret Mutonyi on Friday, pleaded guilty to cutting off Saul Kajura’s head so that he uses it to get wealth.

According to prosecution led, the accused committed the offence in 2016 and was found with the late Kajura’s
head in his shrine and upon arrest, took the police to where he had hidden the lower part of the body. The deceased, who was aged 19 years, was a crime preventer attached to Kayunga Police Station. Kizza was also found in possession of two human skulls in his shrine.

“My lord, I plead guilty to the offence of human sacrifice but I committed the offence while being possessed by spirits,” a sobbing Mr Kizza pleaded, adding, “I was brought up by guardians, who were witch doctors and in one incident, I saw them sacrifice a human being, that
is why I grew up knowing it is okay to kill a person.”

The judge, however, adjourned the case until March 7, when she will sentence him.